May 15

Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go. But if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” — Judg 7:4 BSB

The way the soldiers drank water from the brook determined their fitness for the task of defeating the Midianites. It may seem like a small detail—whether a soldier drank by bowing down with his face in the water or by lapping it with his hand while kneeling—but it was a test that revealed who was fit for the great work ahead.

In the same way, God is constantly testing us through the little, everyday actions of our lives. How we live at home, how we treat our parents, how we perform our duties at school, how we act in the workplace, and how we interact in all our daily activities—these are the tests that determine whether we are ready for greater responsibilities in the future. A young girl, by the way she conducts herself in her youth, is determining her place in life when she reaches adulthood. We may not realize it, but the way we handle the simplest, most ordinary things today could be shaping the honor or responsibility we are given in the future.